No more marathons two Sundays in a row
I had planned to run marathons two Sundays in a row because I didn’t believe it would be a problem. I had done it in May, and I had also previously run an ultra-marathon. If you can dream it, you can do it! There can be many good reasons for launching into all sorts of things. But mind and body influence each other and you can’t cheat. I learned that lesson at The Big Five Marathon in 2005 – and again in September 2010.
Catching up
Between 2006 and 2009, I kept a low profile as far as marathon running was concerned. Those two years, I only ran three marathons in China with nothing between them. But in 2010, I intended to be back up at full strength. That year I ran two tough half-marathons, six marathons and a triathlon. I had also intended to run one more marathon. This came to nothing and actually, I ought to have skipped the last run of the year as well.
It was not surprising that I was tired when I came home from the marathon in Odense. This was nothing exceptional in itself, and on the following day I felt fine. But the day after that, Tuesday 21st September, was epoch-making.
Vertigo
That day, I spent the whole day working for a client in Copenhagen, and when I got up from my chair during the day, I felt slightly dizzy. It wasn’t serious, although it did make me wonder. When I was driving home that evening, I suddenly felt very dizzy in the car. It felt as though the whole world was spinning round. I had to pull over and relax for a while before driving cautiously onward. It happened once more, but I did manage to get home in one piece.
Once back home, I went straight to bed and the dizziness simply got worse. Everything was spinning round even though I was lying down. It was reminiscent of hanging on to the playground carousel in my childhood while the big kids turned it faster and faster.
Inner ear infection
Things hadn’t improved the next day. I had no idea what it was and it made me anxious about my future at work and as a runner. I had one assignment that absolutely had to be done that day. It involved writing a single page of A4. But it was almost impossible for me to get the job finished. I had to write the letter bit by bit through the day, and I was almost unable to see on the screen what I had written. Karin had to proofread it for me when she came home before I dared print and send it.
I got an appointment with my General Practitioner as well as a referral to an ear nose and throat specialist. My own doctor believed that my balance nerve was infected by a virus, which is quite rare. It is due to virus infection of the vestibular nerve, which is responsible for sending balance signals from the inner ear to the brain. This nerve is quite simply paralysed by the infection. I was told that the dizziness I was experiencing could persist for several weeks, so the situation made me feel very uneasy.
Visit to the ear nose and throat specialist
I was unable to get an appointment with a local ear nose and throat specialist without a long wait, but I succeeded in getting an appointment at Hvidovre hospital on the outskirts of Copenhagen on the following Monday. A few days after this consultation, my dizziness began to disappear and when I went back for a check it had more or less disappeared completely, and I was able to drive there by car. The specialist did not believe it could have been an infection of the vestibular nerve, because it would have lasted a lot longer. In his opinion my body had simply said stop because of stress.
If you don’t want to listen you must feel
But it all made sense to me. I had decided to run marathons two Sundays in a row. My body had probably sent me signals telling me not to, but I had ignored them. There is an old Danish saying which says “If you don’t want to listen you must feel”. I started feeling in the autumn of 2010.
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